This invention relates generally to a food vending machine and, more particularly, to a popcorn vending apparatus which dispenses freshly cooked kernels of popcorn and user selectable flavorings in a cup upon demand by a purchaser.
Fresh popcorn vending machines are faced with various difficulties because the quality, including moisture content, of each uncooked kernel affects the resulting volume of the dispensed product. In order to provide a satisfactory vend, it is necessary that the cooked popcorn completely fill a cup, dispensed by the machine to a user accessible area, and any selected flavorings must be evenly dispensed throughout the volume of product. In order to accomplish these results, it is desirable to maintain the uncooked corn in a sealed hopper and dispense a precisely measured quantity to a cooker irrespective of fluctuations in line voltages and the like. The apparatus must perform unattended with bursts of frequent use followed by lengthy periods of non-use. The cooker should quickly and consistently cook the corn kernels which are transported to the cup in the user accessible area.
Because the usage of the apparatus varies considerably, from repeated sequential vends to periods of non-use, it is difficult to produce consistent cooking times and temperatures for the kernels. When vends occur back-to-back, the cooking vessel may retain heat between batches, which may result in excessive cooking temperatures. On the other hand, when the apparatus has not been utilized for a lengthy period, the cooking time is much longer because of the time required to heat the vessel to a temperature suitable to cook the kernels. This results in a difficulty in maintaining a consistent vend, which is further aggravated by the difficulty of dispensing a precisely measured quantity of kernels from a sealed hopper to the cooker without adding undue expense to the apparatus.
Flavorings are typically applied to the cooked kernels as they are deposited in the cup utilizing a head with one or multiple nozzles which receive flavorings pumped from a flavor storage container. A flavoring is usually an emulsion, which tends to settle out over a period of time spanning one or more days. In order to maintain proper consistency of the flavoring, it has been necessary for the operator to access the apparatus frequently in order to shake the flavoring containers and thereby maintain the components in properly mixed consistency. Because of the extensive labor required to access each machine and perform this service, the operator may choose to lengthen the intervals between service, which may result in a poor quality of the dispensed flavoring which, in turn, may result in an unsatisfactory vend. Another difficulty with flavorings is that, if the flavoring is dispensed only in the middle of the cup, the flavoring tends to descend down the middle of the popcorn without adequate coverage of the popcorn. One solution to this problem has been to provide an offset nozzle location and a turntable in order to rotate the popcorn batch under the nozzle and thereby disperse the flavoring. The difficulty with such approach is that the turntable tends to accumulate flavorings which then get on the bottom of the cup of subsequent vends. This provides an unsatisfactory experience to the purchaser who may get soiled by the flavoring on the outside of the cup.
Another problem with popcorn vending machines is that the large cup required for the vend is a desirable target of thieves and difficult to protect because of the unattended nature of the apparatus. It would be desirable to inhibit thieves from gaining access to the cup dispenser of the apparatus between vends.